Petrified National Forest

What Wiped Out the American West? Investigating a Triassic Extinction

Strewn across the dusty ground is the wreckage of a wetland forest that suddenly wilted and died 215 million years ago. Paul Olsen gestures at the broken lumps of white, red, and black quartz scattered about. “You see how it looks ropey?” he asks. He holds up a piece. “It looks like someone took little pieces of rope, snipped them up, and laid them down.”

Olsen believes that these scattered rocks mark the moment of a mass extinction that wiped out many species across North America. He would like to identify the calamity that triggered this extinction. But as I stand beside him in the midday sun, I’m unable to see the subtle clues that his trained eye perceives so easily. As I look at the rocks all about, I simply don’t see the ropey, cylindrical shapes that he’s talking about.

To read the rest of the story, click here...

Alleged jewel thief's kiss for victim leads to DNA fingerprint - and arrest

Alleged jewel thief's kiss for victim leads to DNA fingerprint - and arrest

French police hold man after taking swab from pecked cheek of gagged Paris store owner, then finding DNA database match...

An alleged jewel thief who sealed his crime with a kiss was caught after police analysed the DNA on his victim's cheek. Forensic scientists at the scene swabbed the woman's cheek to isolate the genetic profile.

The robber and an accomplice were said to have tied up, gagged and threatened the owner of a Paris jewellery store after following her home. They poured what they claimed was petrol over her head and told her they would set it alight if she did not give them the codes for the shop alarm.

When one of the robbers returned from clearing out the shop of jewels the pair released the woman, 56, who had been tied to a chair for four hours. It was then that the 20-year-old thief made his mistake. "The crook gave the victim a kiss on the cheek, in what was apparently a sign of compassion after the ordeal he had put her through," a police source told Le Parisien newspaper. "As soon as she was free the victim alerted the police.

"We hoped we could isolate the genetic fingerprint of her assailant. And indeed his DNA was identified and found to be on the national genetic print database."

A few months later detectives discovered the DNA matched a man who was being held by the authorities near Nîmes, southern France, on suspicion of other crimes.

During questioning the man admitted kissing his victim to "make up for the trauma". He has been remanded in custody while detectives trace his accomplice.

Immortal jellyfish: Does it really live forever?

The Turritopsis nutricula jellyfish has displayed a remarkable ability to regenerate its cells in times of crisis. 

 

 

While it is often joked that cats have nine lives, a certain species of jellyfish has been deemed “immortal” by scientists who have observed its ability to, when in crisis, revert its cells to their earliest form and grow anew. That means that these tiny creatures, 4 mm to 5 mm long, potentially have infinite lives.

 

The creature, known scientifically as Turritopsis nutricula, was discovered in the Mediterranean Sea in 1883, but its unique regeneration was not known until the mid-1990s. How does the process work? If a mature Turritopsis is threatened — injured or starving, for example — it attaches itself to a surface in warm ocean waters and converts into a blob. From that state, its cells undergo transdifferentiation, in which the cells essentially transform into different types of cells. Muscle cells can become sperm or eggs, or nerve cells can change into muscle cells, “revealing a transformation potential unparalleled in the animal kingdom,” according to the original study of the species published in 1996.

 

Since the Turritopsis’ virtual immortality was discovered, so have swarms of genetically identical jellyfish far from their original habitat, including in Japan, Spain and the Atlantic Ocean side of Panama. Researchers have concluded that these multiplying creatures are getting caught in ballast waters, water that is sucked into and pumped out of the long distance cargo ships. Polyps also could be growing on the ship’s hulls. Though genetically identical, these jellyfish seem to have adapted to their new environments. For example, specimens from swarms living in tropical waters have been found to have eight tentacles, while those discovered in temperate regions have 24 or more tentacles.

 

Read the rest here....

 

Dentures-fins for sea turtles

 some kind hearted folks designed replacement fins for a sea turtle that had had its fins nipped off by a shark....http://www.easyoops.com/dentures-fins-for-sea-turtles

 

Giacobbe Science Blog Introduction

Hi All, Mr. John Giacobbe here, and obviously you've found my private blog....

Welcome to your new(ish) classes! As you know by now, we've redistributed a few things, and I'll be teaching your 8th Grade Science II, 9th Grade Biology II, and Forensic Science II classes.

If you visit this blog every week or so, click though one of the links below, and make a substantial comment on it, you get some extra credit.

For the first one, all you have to do is make a comment that includes your name! Peace of Cake...

This blog goes back a long time, even from before I was a teacher, and you can make as many comments as you'd like.

If you don't want to leave your name in the comment section, you could send your comment to me via email, at jgiacobbe@nakedscience.org

Live long and prosper!

Just some snowflakes...

the littlest things are invariably the most important, 

and interesting...

Mind control over the Internet

Mind control over the Internet

The idea of mind control usually invokes scenes from sci-fi or horror movies, such as "Star Trek's" Vulcan mind-meld, spiritual possession, malevolent hypnosis or malfunctioning implants. 

 Well, get ready. Human brain-to-brain interfacing – via the Internet, no less – is becoming part real life. And it's not the stuff of horror at all.

In August, a team of researchers at the University of Washington managed to connect their brains using non-invasive technology. Rajesh Rao, a UW computer science and engineering professor, put on an electrode-studded cap and watched a video game, "playing" it with his mind. Across campus, UW psychology professor Andrea Stocco wore a swim-style cap that had a portion equipped with a magnetic stimulation coil.
 

"If you think broadly, I think it opens up a new mode of communication between people," he says. "You can imagine maybe communicating non-verbal types of information, like abstract knowledge, or perhaps communication between people who do not speak the same language."
for the rest of the story, click here

Yellowstone Supervolcano is a Much Bigger Time Bomb Than We Thought

 The supervolcano that lies beneath Yellowstone National Park is 2.5 times larger than previously thought, it was revealed at an American Geophysical Union meeting. 

Scientists knew the supervolcano was big, and set out to find out just how big, in order to assess the threat level. What they discovered, they said, was "astounding."
Between 125 and 185 billion cubic miles of magma is pooled under the surface, representing an existential threat to America, as well as the rest of the world. One scientist estimates an eruption would be 2,000 times the size of Mount St. Helens.

Grisly Remains Of 15 Hobbits Discovered In Peter Jackson’s Attic

 WELLINGTON, NEW ZEALAND—In an appalling incident that has sent shock-waves through the surrounding community, authorities confirmed Thursday that the decayed, dismembered remains of 15 missing hobbits were found in the attic of highly acclaimed film director Peter Jackson.

Jackson, 52, was reportedly taken into police custody immediately and is now awaiting charges. “At this time, we can confirm that 15 halflings between the ages of 25 and eleventy-one were discovered inside the home of Peter Jackson at approximately 4 p.m. this afternoon,” said Wellington Police District Commander Stephen Jones, adding that authorities were initially called when Jackson’s neighbors complained of “a rotting odor” emanating from his home, after which officers conducted a comprehensive search of the property. “We eventually found a hidden hatch on the perpetrator’s ceiling, which was held shut by three heavy-duty locks. Once we opened the door, we came across the victims, already deceased, all of whom had the hair ripped out from the tops of their feet.”
 

for the rest of the story, click here 

First in a Series of:  
Ways 'Adventure Time' Can Make You A Better Person

1. Don’t be afraid of things you don’t understand. 
There’s probably a reasonable explanation.

Welcome to all my new students! If you've found this blog, then you know who I am and what I teach. Check out the Forensic Science and Science Fair links for more information. This week's extra credit is real simple. Simply comment on how awesome this blog is, leave your name, and you get 25 points extra credit. So simple, even my wonderful dog Dixie Cousins could do it! Here's a picture of her, if you're curious...

Of the “pale blue dot,” astronomer Carl Sagan said, “That’s here. That’s home. That’s us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every ‘superstar,’ every ‘supreme leader,’ every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there — on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam.”

She Who Can, Teaches Science. Now Show Her the Money!

She Who Can, Teaches Science. Now Show Her the Money!

Hey science teachers -- make it fun

Tyler DeWitt: Hey science teachers -- make it fun

Tyler DeWitt recognizes that textbooks are not the way to get young people interested in science. Instead, he teaches science by making it fun and fantastical.

Welcome Old & New Students to Block III!

For some of you this is new, for some it's familiar. Visit this blog once a week for a new article, image, or video about sciency stuff. Either post a comment or send me an email at jgiacobbe_southpointe@cox.net (with your name in it) for extra credit. It's easy!

For week one Biology students, check out this web page, and tell me what you think of it. Which was your favorite image, and why? National Geographic Photo Contest 2011. Here's a few sample images...

For Forensic Science students, check this one out, and comment on it... Helping Decide Guilt or Innocence

Is The Universe A Computer Simulation? 

A totally cool article by the lovely and talented 

Cara Santa Maria, with the Huffington Post (who can be reached at

sciencecara@huffingtonpost.com)

Have you ever wondered whether all this--you, your life, the universe--is just a sophisticated computer simulation?

Martin Savage, a physicist at the University of Washington, thinks we can't discount the idea. In fact, he and two colleagues (Silas Beane and Zohreh Davoudi) published a paper in November 2012 exploring the possibility.

... it is the first time where you think, you know, you might result from just a piece of code, writing another piece of code, writing another piece of code. And then you do ask the question about the original simulator, if you like. And so if we are a simulation, we’re probably a simulation from our descendants, right? So, as our universe evolves and becomes more mature, then somebody in that universe launches a simulation to simulate where they came from....

to read the rest, click here

360 crime scene views - totally mathematical...

360 crime scene views - totally mathematical...

Crime scene forensics: How does it work?

Forensic evidence and the way it was gathered came under close scrutiny in the trial of Stephen Lawrence's killers.

Techniques and practices have developed significantly since 1993 and are now a key part of police investigations from the start.

The basic principle is "every contact leaves a trace" and specks of blood, fibres or fingerprints become silent witnesses against the criminal. Here, we examine forensic science from crime scene to courtroom.
 
For the rest of the story, read here: 

 

Welcome Back to School!

Welcome new and returning students to Block II! Hope you all had a good Fall Break, and are ready for your Biology, Biology Honors , and Forensic Science classes. Stop by my Blog here once a week or so to find science articles, images, and videos that I find interesting (and hopefully you will, too). 

If you leave a comment on the post, you get some extra credit. Either use your Google or Open ID account, or leave your name in the post so I know who to give the extra credit to.

For the first one, it's easy as pie. Just click on the comment link below this post, and leave your name, so I know you found the site. Get stoked for science, dudes!

Maggot DNA Identifies Corpse

Corpse identification is as much art as science. Sometimes no ID is possible and at other times creativity is required. 

In a recent case, where a badly charred body could not be identified due to the damage, DNA was extracted from the GI tracks of the fly maggots that had populated the corpse. U

sing the STR technique, DNA from the maggots was compared with DNA from the suspected victim’s father and a paternity-type match was made, proving the ID of the corpse to an accuracy of 99.685% according to the authors of the study.

This is the first time this technique has been used in this manner.

Happy Birthday, Neil deGrasse Tyson: Intelligent Design and the Philosophy of Ignorance

By: Maria Popova
 

Why even Newton was susceptible to cognitive cop-outs.

Today marks the 54th birthday of the inimitable Neil deGrass Tyson, who blends the “Great Explainer” quality of Richard Feynman and Carl Sagan’s penchant of the poetry of the cosmos with a brand of eloquence all his own. He’s previously made a political case for space exploration, showed us why we’re wired for science, and bantered with Colbert about scientific literacy, education, and the universe. In this short excerpt from a longer lecture, Tyson exposes intelligent design as a kind of dead-end cop-out that even some of history’s greatest intellectuals resorted to when stumped — including Sir Isaac Newton, who invented calculus at the tender age of 25.





http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EQucyuKsrOE&feature=colike